nikonshooter Loc: Spartanburg, South Carolina

Clear but cold skies finally. This image of M31 was taken over a 4 night period close to 8 hours total exposure.... 2 hours each night.

Nikon 810a - ISO 800_F/4_120 sec
Lens - Nikon F/4 200x400
Atlas Pro AZ/EQ-G mount
Software:
Astrotortilla - Platesolve
Alignmaster - Polar Alignment
EQMode
Deep Sky Stacker - Calibrate, Register, Debayer
PixInsight - Crop, DBE, Color Calib, Histo Stretch, Curves (star mask)
Photoshop CC - selective color adjustments using luminosity masks in
LAB mode.

2 min subs - no dithering - unguided

Lights - 206 kept 34 rejected - clouds and planes.
Darks - 40
Flats - 60
Biaz - 60

Clouds are back ....and clear skies are at least one week away so says the weather prognosticator!

I was heavy handed on the crop - stars in the edges were looking more like footballs. I was also very heavy handed in PS.

When the skies clear I plan to reshoot M31 with 12 hours of 1 minute subs and keep the ISO at 800 same kit - F/4 is sweet. That's the plan!

M31

(Download)

JimH123 Loc: Morgan Hill, CA

Now that is nice! You can see all the banding so clearly. I find that I can't spend that much time and end up with far fewer images to stack.

I like this one a lot!

CraigFair Loc: Santa Maria, CA.

That is so beautiful Coach I was going to post one myself but I think I'll wait till the bar comes back down a little.
Great job, all the hard work you put into it really shows.
Craig

nikonshooter Loc: Spartanburg, South Carolina

Thanks for the kinds words. I have to give credit to post processing. I did get some good subs/data to work with - but the color and structure were enhanced using luminosity masks in PS and making selective adjustments.

CraigFair Loc: Santa Maria, CA.

I absolutely have to learn how to use "Masks" in PS. And Luminosity.
Craig

nikonshooter Loc: Spartanburg, South Carolina

I would suggest reviewing Tony Kuyper's Panel and Tutorials. Jimmy McIntyre has done some excellent work (he is a student of Tony's work)

http://goodlight.us/index.html

I just added Toney's latest Panel - Version 4. It is so much better and easier to use.

Bloke Loc: Waynesboro, Pennsylvania

Wow! Just, wow! :thumbup:

chazz4623 Loc: Prairieville, La

Amazing shot. This just makes me want to get a huge telescope or something to look thru and look for sights like this. Just amazing!!

Albuqshutterbug Loc: Albuquerque NM

Very nicely done.
:thumbup: :thumbup:

dlmorris Loc: Loma Linda, Ca

WOW! Really great!

Europa Loc: West Hills, CA

Amazing, looking forward to the 12 Hr. Do you have an estimate of the time spent in PP?

nikonshooter Loc: Spartanburg, South Carolina

Once DSS has finished calibrating and registering - a very long process as these files are huge (Once I load the files and set the parameters - 10 minutes, the rest is done in my absence)...and I am shooting RAW.

After that was done....I was in PixInsight for about 15 minutes and PS for 30 min or so...I kept coming back and tweaking the image but all in all no more than an hour.

PixInsight has a steep learning curve for me.....but PS is my second language as I have been a PS user since the late 90's.

Once the image leaves PixInsight - I convert to LAB mode and by using Luminosity masks, I select out both tones and colors and work on those separately using adjustment layers. I also use a tonal selection to run a high pass sharpening adjustment layer to add structure without adding noise. It may sound complicated but when you see it done it's a fairly common workflow.

To be sure, my PixInsight image (because of my limited knowledge of this software) leaves a lot to be desired but the DATA is there for Photoshops' heavy lifting.

Hopefully, when I have time to dive deeper into "how PixInsight works" I will be able to produce a decent image without PS.

Europa Loc: West Hills, CA

Where do you make the determination of the files that you are rejecting? Your experience is obvious, I spend more time in PP just to delete and start over...again, very impressive.

nikonshooter Loc: Spartanburg, South Carolina

I use MAC's and open the folder with the LIGHTS and choose the view option in FINDER called COVER FLOW. I look through each of the images for problems (clouds, planes, any streaking). I also check the Darks, Flats, and BIAS just in case. When I go to DSS I select 100 percent of images to be used as I have already culled through them. I have returned to using DSS .....I had been using the batch program in PixInsight to Calibrate, Register, and Debayer. Recently I added Astrotortilla for plate solving. When shooting over multiple nights using different exposure times you need different support files....and I was stumped as to how to do this in PixInsight. It is easier to create stacking groups in DSS so I went back. I really think I have a fewer gradient problems when using DSS too.

Calsnap Loc: Seattle/Montana/San Diego

Oh my. This is really gorgeous. As a "non-star shooter" I'm in awe of the knowledge and technique needed to produce such a beautiful end product. Look out Hubble. :thumbup: :thumbup: